


Always

by Jonelin



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Something I wrote when I got stuck on something else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28705971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jonelin/pseuds/Jonelin
Summary: The bartender sets down a fresh drink and takes his empty glass away. He and Raihan have been together for almost four years.  Most of that time has been a mix of blissful, comfortable, safe, loving, fun, supportive.  Sometimes it was stressful, annoying, exasperating, but the same could be said for any relationship, right?  The good had far outweighed the bad, right up until these past couple of months.
Relationships: Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Always

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of steps away from the fluff I've been writing. I hope you enjoy it.

Piers sits at the bar, elbows propped, his hands holding his head. His fair hung down around his face, making his own private cave. He stares into the bottom of his empty glass, as if reading tea leaves, but there is nothing there to read. He lifts his head just in time for the bartender to walk by, and he raises his fingers and points to his glass. The bartender nods and grabs a fresh glass.

He feels stupid, sitting here alone, but he couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. He knows if he shows up at Marnie’s, she’ll want to know why. He isn’t ready to talk about it, because he’s afraid of what conclusions he’ll come to if he gives it words. So, he came here. To sit and wallow.

The bartender sets down a fresh drink and takes his empty glass away. He and Raihan have been together for almost four years. Most of that time has been a mix of blissful, comfortable, safe, loving, fun, supportive. Sometimes it was stressful, annoying, exasperating, but the same could be said for any relationship, right? The good had far outweighed the bad, right up until these past couple of months.

Piers sips his drink as he thinks about how they ended up together. Raihan had started overtly flirting with him out of the blue. They had known each other for years, but after giving up the gym, he didn’t see Raihan often anymore. In fact, it had been about a year before their paths would cross again. Piers needed new strings for his guitar, and had just stepped out of the music store in Hammerlocke when he heard his name. He saw Raihan trotting over to him.

“Hey mate, long time!” Raihan’s smile got impossibly bigger. “You’re looking great,” he added after looking him up and down, his eyes narrowing a bit, and his smile softening to something that made Piers tense. He was looking at him like he was a slice of cake he was about to devour.

“Yeah,” was Piers’ lame response. He looked up (bloody tall wanker) and Raihan looked good. He always did. Piers would never admit it, but he’d used Raihan more than once as wank material. He never felt bad about it. It just was what it was. A pretty face to help him get off.

“I was about to grab a coffee and a snack to go from the café before heading back to the gym. Want to join me? My treat. We can catch up for a few minutes.”

“Sure.” Coffee sounded good, but Piers wasn’t sure why he said yes.

After that day, Raihan started to text him. It was just faff at first, but then he started throwing in pictures of his pokemon, or something cool he’d seen that day. Then one day, almost two weeks later, he received a selfie of Raihan smiling in front of a restaurant with a “Grand Opening” sign, asking _‘interested?’_

Piers had been stuck on a melody for a new song, and was beyond frustrated. A break wouldn’t hurt, so he’d replied saying yes. If he played his cards right, maybe they’d drink enough wine and Piers would get laid. It had been awhile. He knows Raihan is a player, so a shag between two old mates shouldn’t be a big thing.

What he got instead was a flirty, charming, Raihan. A right bloody Romeo. He was laying it on too thick, making Piers wonder. Raihan is good looking, successful, and popular. Surely, he didn’t have to work that hard to get into someone’s pants? When the night ended without so much as a snog, Piers was left horny, and confused.

That confusion led him to agree to a second invitation. Then a third. Each outing seemingly trying to outdo the previous one. Each time, Piers thought, he’d get a little more information, be a little closer to figuring out what the hell Raihan was playing at. Then a fourth. And a fifth.

It was the fifth time they were out that Raihan seemed to settle down. He was still sweet and charming, and all of the other pleasant adjectives, but he seemed to actually be interested. Instead of preening and aggrandizing, he listened. His eyes seemed softer somehow. He liked this Raihan better. The evening went with more of a give and take. 

By the sixth outing, Piers realized two things. First, he never did figure out what Raihan had been playing at early on, and two, they had been dating. That night, before Raihan said goodnight, he asked for a kiss. The seventh date included a proper snogging. The eighth date was when clothes came off, after Raihan asked Piers up to his place for a nightcap.

He didn’t hear from Raihan for three days after that night. Piers reasoned that whatever game Raihan had been playing, he felt he won, and he put the game board away. If you had asked Piers what he thought of this outcome had it happened after the first night they went out, he’d have shrugged and said they both got what the wanted. But Piers after the eighth date was crushed.

They didn’t chat every day, but after the third day came and went, when there wasn’t even a reply to the text Piers had sent the day before, he resigned himself to the fact that he’d been had. This was why he didn’t do relationships. He would put his all into it, give everything he had until he had nothing left. It never was enough, because they would always leave. So, he stopped trying. He kept to himself. He liked it better like that. That’s what he thought, anyway, until this thing with Raihan. He started to feel valued, seen, cared for, and he realized that he craved it. More the fool was he.

When his phone rang late that night, he almost didn’t answer it. 

“I had a bit of an existential crisis.”

Piers snorted. 

“I think I really like you,” Raihan continued. 

They took it slow. Piers, who was already gun shy, had felt the sting of Raihan’s silence over those few days, right when he had started to let his guard down. Raihan had admitted that he was never one for relationships, though when pressed he couldn’t say why. Maybe he just believed his own hype, that he just became the person he pretended to be after a while. They were both closed off and emotionally stunted in their own ways.

 _‘I love_ you’ came from Piers first, and he had slapped his hand over his mouth the second the words came out. He had thought them often enough, but was too terrified to voice them. Raihan’s answer was to pounce on his lover and kiss him and kiss him and kiss him. Piers wasn’t even sure how their clothes had come off, but their bodies moved together like a melody, like strings and keys, like bass and drums.

“I love you, too,” Raihan said, wrapping his limbs around him after they were both spent.

They had moved in together after almost two years of dating. That was another learning curve for both of them, but they had the tools to cope, after what they went through early on. They talked, negotiated, laid a foundation, and soon they settled in. 

At times their passions burned hot, at others, they just simmered. Regardless, Raihan had become home, and he thought his love felt the same way about him. Every day, Piers would look at Raihan and think, _‘I love him. I CHOOSE to love him.’_ It didn’t matter if it was a boring domestic day, or a high stress day, or a cuddle because it’s raining day. Piers reaffirmed his commitment in his head every morning. Happy, sad, grumpy, or playful, whatever the mood, whatever the triumph, whatever the tribulation, Piers was by his side, even when that meant standing back and giving Raihan space.

Which is what he’d been doing for months. Giving him space. Not that Raihan had explicitly asked for that, but Piers felt it. Before this, they had both been busy. Piers had been working on his new album, holing up for hours a day writing, creating. It was also the start of the gym challenge, so Raihan was gone to the gym 12 hours a day or more. When they both came up for air, album done and challenge season over, something felt wrong. Like Raihan hadn't come back up with him. Piers would find piles of laundry, dishes in the sink, towels on the floor. Piers was the tidier of the two, but Raihan never used to leave all of the work to Piers to do alone. Raihan was also staying up late most nights, playing video games, and drinking beer, that Piers would have to replace when he did the shopping. 

At first, Piers chalked it up to a rougher than usual season this year, and gave Raihan the time to decompress. When a week bled into two, and two into a month, he began to worry. When advances of intimacy were met with actions that felt perfunctory, or he was outright turned down, Piers became afraid.

Tonight, was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. Something magnificent had happened, and when Piers shared the news, or rather tried to, Raihan had barely glanced up from his game. Piers knew it was childish, but he pulled the game console’s power cable right out of the wall. 

All he wanted was for his partner to acknowledge him. To be proud of his accomplishment. To celebrate with him. Instead, he’s sitting alone. At a dive bar. 

“Another, please,” he says softly, and the bartender grabs a fresh glass.

“Rough night?” A voice beside him. He hadn’t even noticed the man sit down next to him and wonders how long he’s been there. 

“Somethin’ like that.” The bartender brings over his drink, taking his empty glass before walking away.

The man offers him a small smile of… understanding, maybe? Or maybe Piers is just looking for something, someone, to validate his existence. 

“Wanna blow this place?” the man asks. 

Piers gives him a once over. He’s a right looker, and Piers hopes he isn’t a serial killer as he nods. He downs his drink and drops some bills on the counter, more than enough to cover his drinks, leaving a hefty tip for the bartender.

Piers walks out of the bar and starts following the man. He doesn’t even know where they are going. Suddenly, the man stops and places his hand on the back of his head. He looks into brown eyes as he sees the kiss coming and realizes he never even got his name. 

* * *

Raihan woke up, in the same position he fell asleep, on Piers’ side of the bed. Dried tears are visible on his cheeks, like rivers of salt. Glancing at the clock on the side table lets him know that he’s been asleep for about two hours. Three hours since Raihan had paced and cursed, before a horrible realization hit him, and the crying started. Three and a half hours since Piers walked out the door. 

At first, he had just sat, as tears streamed down his cheeks. Hot, but not hot enough to burn him like he deserved. Then the sobs came. Slow at first, like hiccups, before they took over and he couldn’t stop. He had curled up in a ball to try to stave them off. His body hurt from the convulsions. It felt like a lifetime, before he fell asleep.

Raihan slowly unfolded himself and stood with a groan, his muscles tight from a fitful sleep. Raihan made his way out to the living room, which was deathly silent, the only light coming from the static on the telly.

Besides both having strong personalities, he and Piers rarely argued. They might disagree now and then, and they sometimes had fiery disagreements, but they never yelled, or called each other names. Until tonight. And Piers didn’t want to argue. Piers was just trying to tell him how he’d been feeling, what he wanted… no, what he NEEDED. Raihan took it as a personal assault, and fought back with his words as if they were fists. 

Piers had stood there, bearing the storm, as vitriol got flung at him. He said nothing, and when the raging was done, he walked out the door without a word. Raihan’s heart slammed in his chest the moment the door closed behind him, as he realized that he had just royally fucked up. 

Raihan flipped the telly off, and turned on a lamp. He was pacing the living room, his thoughts a jumbled mess, when he saw the copy of the newspaper that had been in Piers’ hand before he just started screaming at him. He didn’t even let Piers get a word in. He picked up the paper, already folded to the page showing the current music charts and there it was. _Always_ by Piers at number one. A wave of bile hit the back of his throat. He hadn’t even heard the song. 

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? After the season ended, Raihan had just felt like he was in a funk. Maybe he was depressed, for no reason, who knows. That happens to people sometimes. The brain just goes wonky, but unless you have a clinical problem, it often rights itself after a time. 

Then Raihan had become complacent. Piers was here, and they were together, so there wasn’t really anything to work at, right? Except there was. Piers worked on it every day. When had Raihan stopped? He took it all for granted, and now Piers was gone… but… he would have to come back. His stuff was here, so he had a chance. He would grovel and beg. Piers may favor the dark, but he was Raihan’s light.

“Rotom, play _Always_ by Piers.”

The song starts with a haunting melody, but after hearing the first two lines of the song, Raihan realizes he made a mistake. By the chorus, he is sitting on the couch, hunched over, holding back more sobs. Listening to this song is his punishment. Because this song is all of Piers’ love for him poured into every chord and every word. A love song he doesn’t deserve.

As the song ends, Raihan lurches up and runs for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before he’s on his knees, heaving. All that comes up is bile and beer, and that makes him gag harder. The violent action takes its toll on his body, and his ribs feel like they have been hit by a Copperajah trunk. 

When his body finally stops convulsing, he stands unsteadily. He splashes water on his face, and rinses his mouth out, before heading back to the living room, slowing to look at the pictures lining a wall. The pictures curated and lovingly displayed by Piers.

There was one of Piers and Marnie, right after she was born, his face showing his pride in his baby sister. There was one of Raihan and Leon, when they were just kids, arms around each other's shoulders, smiling like loons. And there. There was him and Piers, making the goofiest faces. Tongues sticking out, Raihan winking, and Piers throwing up a two-finger salute at the camera. That was taken not long after Raihan figured out that he liked Piers. He’s sure now that he was already in love with him, but Raihan didn’t know what love was yet. Piers taught him how to love, and he did it by loving Raihan. No holds barred. 

His eyes continued along more pictures. One with the two of them with Marnie, when they took her out for her birthday. One of a bunch of old and new gym leaders, a reunion of sorts, at a karaoke bar. Another one of them on their first anniversary. Oh, that had been a milestone, especially because of how it all started. Piers had looked so very good, standing outside the music store when Raihan spotted him. He always thought Piers was hot, and he’d fantasized about having his wicked way with him more than once, but that day he saw something new. Piers looked, well, he looked healthy. Rested. Like the world wasn’t pressing down on him like he always did in the past. 

After they chatted that day, Raihan couldn’t resist texting him. Then when he passed the sign heralding the grand opening of a new restaurant in Hammerlocke, he sent his invitation. He was thrown for a loop when Piers said yes. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing or why. He just played the gentleman, wooing a beloved, but he was doing it as a lark. He thought for sure he’d get harsh words and eyerolls from Piers. Maybe they’d laugh and get drunk. Maybe he’d finally get that tumble with Piers he’d always wanted. What he got though, was quiet contemplation from Piers. He was trying to figure out what his game was. The only problem was that Raihan didn’t know what his game was either. When he didn’t get the reaction he was expecting, he was at such a loss for what to do, that he didn’t even try to get Piers into bed. Instead, he invited him out again. And again. And again. Each time, getting the same results. 

That first date, Piers listened to his silly anecdotes. The second date, Piers listened to his nostalgic stories. The third date, Piers listened to tales of his excursions to the most remote parts of Galar in search of dragon’s nests, to make sure they were safe and untouched by unscrupulous hands. The fourth date, Piers listened as he told him about one such nest he found on his last outing that hadn’t made it unscathed. Piers had reached out and held his hand. Raihan saw understanding eyes reflected back at him. The fifth date, he shut his gob and listened. Piers had put up with all of that shite those first few weeks. Went along for a ride that didn’t have a destination. Raihan needed to know what made this man tick. He learned that and more. 

Raihan reverently ran his fingers across the image of Piers’ face. The soft smile and bright eyes. How in love Piers was with him radiated from the picture. Then Raihan was hit with a flash of how he had looked before he walked out the door. His face was paler than Raihan had thought it could get, his eyes devoid of any emotion. Raihan had made him look like that. How did he get from that smile here, to that look there? It was so easy to love Piers. Piers gave and gave, and then gave some more, and even a little bit in return made him happy. How long had it all gone so one sided? How long had he been just taking and taking? 

Raihan made his way to the couch and sat, staring at the door, as if willing Piers to walk through it. One minute stretched into two, and wasn’t sitting here doing nothing what started all of this in the first place? Action! Raihan can do action. He stood and was a step away from the door, when it burst open, and there was Piers, tears streaking down his face, out of breath as if he ran all the way home. He reaches out for him, and Piers reaches back.

“Raihan…” 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope our boys find their way back. This is where my brain stopped though.


End file.
